Flar's Freyja
November 2nd, 2002, 07:00 PM
Just sharing this bit of news with you all - I think we need a "News" thread :)
Wiccans Offer Alternative to Boy Scouts
By Michael L. Betsch
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 31, 2002
http://www.cnsnews.com/Culture/archive/200210/CUL20021031b.html
(CNSNews.com) - Frustrated by an unsuccessful campaign
to achieve religious recognition from the Boy Scouts
of America, a Seattle-based Wicca church has launched
its own youth program, which is based on tolerance for
different beliefs, including differences in sexual
orientation.
SpiralScouts founder Pete 'Pathfinder' Davis believes
that many of the things the Boy Scouts are doing are
"socially inappropriate." He said he created to the
SpiralScouts to "fill the void left by prejudicial
treatment of other established children's programs."
Davis, who serves as the Archpriest of the Wiccan
Aquarian Tabernacle Church, said his main argument
with the BSA is that the group has refused to
recognize Wicca as an acceptable form of worship, but
at the same time, the BSA incorporates the symbols of
myriad Christian denominations into its Religious
Emblems program.
He said the Scouts rejected a Wicca badge that was
designed and submitted by a well-known Wiccan
priestess.
In 1999, Davis created the SpiralScouts as the
Aquarian Tabernacle Church's "answer" to the Boy
Scouts and other youth organizations that subscribe
only to "traditional" faiths. Today, the SpiralScouts
welcomes children of all ages (four and up) and
backgrounds, including Wiccans, pagans, atheists and
homosexuals.
Davis said practicing Wicca is not a mandatory
activity for the 50 SpiralScout units currently
operating across the U.S., Canada and Switzerland.
Beyond fostering a respect for nature, it is up to
each SpiralScout unit leader to decide whether they
will teach children the principles and philosophy of
the Wiccan religion.
The vast majority of the SpiralScout units are
operated by Wiccan groups and churches, he said.
"When we started to formalize the program, we designed
it in a fashion that it's oriented towards earth
religion, but so is Scouting, whether they realize it
or not," Davis said. Unlike the "pervasive" use of
Christianity contained within the BSA, the
SpiralScouts was created to accommodate the spiritual
beliefs of any minority religious group, he said.
SpiralScouts describes itself as a work in progress.
It says it offers children the opportunity to develop
interpersonal and life skills and a pagan world view,
in addition to learning "the usual handicrafts of
scouting and woodland lore."
Boy Scouts dismiss rejection
According to BSA spokesman Gregg Shields, religious
emblems are the property of approved religious
scouting organizations and are awarded at their own
discretion. For example, he said the National Catholic
Council on Scouting and the National Jewish Committee
on Scouting each have their own unique religious
emblem.
"There is no national Wiccan organization," Shields
said. "So, that's why there is no religious award for
Wiccans."
He encouraged any Wiccan group that would like to
charter a troop in their community to submit an
application to their local BSA council for
consideration.
Focus on tolerance
According to the SpiralScouts membership requirements,
it is imperative that parents and leaders promote
religious and cultural tolerance so their children may
learn to co-exist with society as a whole.
Specifically, the group encourages children to accept
the "differing roles of male and female throughout
nature and culture."
Contrary to the Boy Scout policy of excluding
homosexuals - a policy upheld by the U.S. Supreme
Court - the SpiralScouts welcomes homosexuals within
its ranks. Davis explained that the Wiccan religion
accommodates homosexuals because its philosophy is
focused on the "balance of polarities" of that exist
in nature.
For example, Davis said the SpiralScouts mandates that
leaders of individual units should include both a male
and a female. However, he said the rules are flexible
because some adults, such as homosexuals, "believe
themselves to be embodying masculine or feminine
characteristics."
Davis believes that such a male/female balance of
leadership ensures a SpiralScout's positive
integration into the real world. "Children are not
born with prejudices," he noted. "They have to learn
prejudice and intolerance from others."
Defiance of 'extreme right'
According to the group's handbook, "SpiralScouts is
something new, something perhaps of historic
proportions for modern Paganism. It certainly will
have an unmistakable impact on Pagan children growing
up in this era of Christian extreme-right domination
of our culture."
According to the SpiralScouts' interpretation of the
pagan philosophy, children participating in the
program will learn to honor "both the maleness and
femaleness we all harbor within us," as the handbook
put it. "Perhaps, if we are lucky, even a few parents
who may need some brushing up on these same skills may
reap benefits just from being there with the children
while the kids learn these things."
See Earlier Story:
Boy Scouts to Atheist: Accept A God or Get Out (30
Oct. 2002)
Wiccans Offer Alternative to Boy Scouts
By Michael L. Betsch
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 31, 2002
http://www.cnsnews.com/Culture/archive/200210/CUL20021031b.html
(CNSNews.com) - Frustrated by an unsuccessful campaign
to achieve religious recognition from the Boy Scouts
of America, a Seattle-based Wicca church has launched
its own youth program, which is based on tolerance for
different beliefs, including differences in sexual
orientation.
SpiralScouts founder Pete 'Pathfinder' Davis believes
that many of the things the Boy Scouts are doing are
"socially inappropriate." He said he created to the
SpiralScouts to "fill the void left by prejudicial
treatment of other established children's programs."
Davis, who serves as the Archpriest of the Wiccan
Aquarian Tabernacle Church, said his main argument
with the BSA is that the group has refused to
recognize Wicca as an acceptable form of worship, but
at the same time, the BSA incorporates the symbols of
myriad Christian denominations into its Religious
Emblems program.
He said the Scouts rejected a Wicca badge that was
designed and submitted by a well-known Wiccan
priestess.
In 1999, Davis created the SpiralScouts as the
Aquarian Tabernacle Church's "answer" to the Boy
Scouts and other youth organizations that subscribe
only to "traditional" faiths. Today, the SpiralScouts
welcomes children of all ages (four and up) and
backgrounds, including Wiccans, pagans, atheists and
homosexuals.
Davis said practicing Wicca is not a mandatory
activity for the 50 SpiralScout units currently
operating across the U.S., Canada and Switzerland.
Beyond fostering a respect for nature, it is up to
each SpiralScout unit leader to decide whether they
will teach children the principles and philosophy of
the Wiccan religion.
The vast majority of the SpiralScout units are
operated by Wiccan groups and churches, he said.
"When we started to formalize the program, we designed
it in a fashion that it's oriented towards earth
religion, but so is Scouting, whether they realize it
or not," Davis said. Unlike the "pervasive" use of
Christianity contained within the BSA, the
SpiralScouts was created to accommodate the spiritual
beliefs of any minority religious group, he said.
SpiralScouts describes itself as a work in progress.
It says it offers children the opportunity to develop
interpersonal and life skills and a pagan world view,
in addition to learning "the usual handicrafts of
scouting and woodland lore."
Boy Scouts dismiss rejection
According to BSA spokesman Gregg Shields, religious
emblems are the property of approved religious
scouting organizations and are awarded at their own
discretion. For example, he said the National Catholic
Council on Scouting and the National Jewish Committee
on Scouting each have their own unique religious
emblem.
"There is no national Wiccan organization," Shields
said. "So, that's why there is no religious award for
Wiccans."
He encouraged any Wiccan group that would like to
charter a troop in their community to submit an
application to their local BSA council for
consideration.
Focus on tolerance
According to the SpiralScouts membership requirements,
it is imperative that parents and leaders promote
religious and cultural tolerance so their children may
learn to co-exist with society as a whole.
Specifically, the group encourages children to accept
the "differing roles of male and female throughout
nature and culture."
Contrary to the Boy Scout policy of excluding
homosexuals - a policy upheld by the U.S. Supreme
Court - the SpiralScouts welcomes homosexuals within
its ranks. Davis explained that the Wiccan religion
accommodates homosexuals because its philosophy is
focused on the "balance of polarities" of that exist
in nature.
For example, Davis said the SpiralScouts mandates that
leaders of individual units should include both a male
and a female. However, he said the rules are flexible
because some adults, such as homosexuals, "believe
themselves to be embodying masculine or feminine
characteristics."
Davis believes that such a male/female balance of
leadership ensures a SpiralScout's positive
integration into the real world. "Children are not
born with prejudices," he noted. "They have to learn
prejudice and intolerance from others."
Defiance of 'extreme right'
According to the group's handbook, "SpiralScouts is
something new, something perhaps of historic
proportions for modern Paganism. It certainly will
have an unmistakable impact on Pagan children growing
up in this era of Christian extreme-right domination
of our culture."
According to the SpiralScouts' interpretation of the
pagan philosophy, children participating in the
program will learn to honor "both the maleness and
femaleness we all harbor within us," as the handbook
put it. "Perhaps, if we are lucky, even a few parents
who may need some brushing up on these same skills may
reap benefits just from being there with the children
while the kids learn these things."
See Earlier Story:
Boy Scouts to Atheist: Accept A God or Get Out (30
Oct. 2002)